The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act has officially passed, but the fight is far from over. Many home-educating families strongly believe the Act is fundamentally incompatible with the Human Rights Act, particularly as it paves the way for discrimination against disabled children and their parents.
The legal pushback is already in motion. We are backing a crowdfunder for a judicial review to challenge the risk of reducing rights to family life. Sarah, who is autistic and runs an equine therapy CIC working closely with home-educating families, is bravely acting as the lead claimant.
Legal challenges of this magnitude are not cheap and this case could potentially go all the way to the Supreme Court. The immediate goal is to hit the £30,000 milestone to unlock the next stage of the legal process. If every person reading this chips in a fiver, we can easily cross that threshold. This is about protecting our parental rights, our children’s rights and the rights of future generations.
One of our biggest concerns regarding the Act is how it specifically targets children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Under the new provisions, if a child attends a special school, the local authority can deny a parent’s decision to deregister them for home education if the authority simply believes it is in the ‘best interest of the child to attend school’.
Traditionally, as long as a parent provides a suitable education, the state steps back. Now we are asking a vital question: why should parents of disabled children face heavier state control and reduced rights?
Compounding these SEND concerns is the deeply worrying news that DfE guidance suggests schools use AI to draft SEND support plans. Support plans must be tailored, needs based and highly individualised. Relying on AI patterns not only risks generating flawed “copy and paste” documents, but could also create severe data privacy risks. We already know that council SEND reform plans could dodge public scrutiny and substituting careful human assessment for artificial intelligence is a disaster waiting to happen for vulnerable children.
In Parliament, questions are finally being asked about the logistics of the new laws. In recent Written Answers regarding the Home Education Registration timeline, the government confirmed that mandatory Children Not in School registers will be implemented before the end of this Parliament.
What remains shockingly absent is a proper impact assessment. The government is introducing massive systemic changes without calculating the financial costs, the staffing requirements or the unintended consequences. Pushing scarce social care resources toward policing capable home-educating parents will inevitably draw eyes away from children who genuinely need safeguarding.
Looking abroad, the picture is a mixed bag of warnings and victories.
In a massive win for parental advocacy, the New Zealand Government backed down on last-minute homeschooling law changes after facing fierce backlash from families who refused to be burdened with unreasonable administrative hurdles.
However in Europe, the hostility towards educational freedom continues. In Finland the security agency is expressing worry over homeschooling, citing fears of “segregation” despite the home-educating population making up less than 1,000 children in the entire country. Similarly The Hague city council has ordered homeschooling parents to send their children to school following a strict Supreme Court ruling in the Netherlands that limits conscience-based exemptions. It is a stark reminder of why we must fiercely protect our freedoms here at home.
For children wanting to make their voices heard, The Big Future Survey by the Children’s Commissioner opened this week. and “home educated” is now an official option on the form. It includes free text boxes, making it a perfect opportunity for your children to explicitly share their thoughts on home visits, privacy and their educational freedom.
Finally, if you want a brilliant breakdown of everything going on with the CWSA, do not miss this fantastic Special Guest Interview with Jenn Hodge on The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast.
Top Stories
Crowdfunder: Challenge the risk of reducing rights to family life: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenge-the-risk-of-reducing
Written Answers, Department for Education: Home Education: Registration (28 May 2026): https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2026-05-18.2262.h&s=%22home+education%22+OR+%22home+educated%22+OR+%22home+educating%22+OR+%22homeschool%22+OR+%22homeschooling%22+OR+%22homeschooled%22+OR+%22home+school%22+OR+%22home+schooled%22+OR+%22home+schooling%22
CWSA
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) (England) Regulations 2026: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2026/551
Implementation Date Possibly 2029: https://edyourself.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/implementation-date-possibly-2029/
News
Youngsters from home school group bury time capsule at Culmer’s Allotments, The Isle of Thanet News: https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2026/05/27/youngsters-from-home-school-group-bury-time-capsule-at-culmers-allotments/
Additional Links: https://archive.ph/ylRtb
How Homeschooling Became the Fastest Growing Education Model, edchoice.org: https://www.edchoice.org/2026-how-homeschooling-became-the-fastest-growing-education-model/
Government backs down on last-minute homeschooling law change, The Press: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/361012222/government-backs-down-last-minute-homeschooling-law-change
Homeschooling worries Finnish security agency, but not homeschoolers, Yle: https://yle.fi/a/74-20228026
The Hague tells homeschooling parents to send children to school, DutchNews.nl: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2026/05/the-hague-tells-homeschooling-parents-to-send-children-to-school/
Lack of evidence a likely ‘challenge’ to SEND reforms, says EEF: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/lack-of-evidence-a-likely-challenge-to-send-reforms-says-eef/
Council SEND reform plans could dodge public scrutiny: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/council-send-reform-plans-could-dodge-public-scrutiny/
DfE guidance suggests schools use AI to draft SEND support plans: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-guidance-suggests-schools-use-ai-to-draft-send-support-plans/
Home Ed
Special Guest: Jenn Hodge Interview: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Now the Act) What Home Educating Families Need to Know: https://www.bighomeedpodcast.com/special-guest/
Parliament
Northern Ireland Assembly: Adjournment: Early Intervention and Family Support Services: North Antrim (26 May 2026) - Jon Burrows: ...busyness, pressures or issues that might be in the home, such as domestic violence, parents find it difficult to deal with issues such as taking a screen off a child. There are increased levels of homeschooling and anxiety or emotionally based school avoidance. That causes me huge concern about safeguarding, because we do not have a proper understanding of the numbers, and no proper...: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/ni/?id=2026-05-26.9.1&s=%22home+education%22+OR+%22home+educated%22+OR+%22home+educating%22+OR+%22homeschool%22+OR+%22homeschooling%22+OR+%22homeschooled%22+OR+%22home+school%22+OR+%22home+schooled%22+OR+%22home+schooling%22#g9.9
Written Answers, Department for Education: Home Education (22 May 2026) - Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans further to regulate home schooling .: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2026-05-13.57.h&s=%22home+education%22+OR+%22home+educated%22+OR+%22home+educating%22+OR+%22homeschool%22+OR+%22homeschooling%22+OR+%22homeschooled%22+OR+%22home+school%22+OR+%22home+schooled%22+OR+%22home+schooling%22
Written Answers, Department for Education: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (22 May 2026) - Martin Wrigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an impact assessment of the provisions in Part 2 (Sections 24–29) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill ; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of those provisions on (a) children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans and (b) children experiencing mental health difficulties.: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2026-05-13.812.h&s=%22children+not+in+school%22+OR+%22home+school+education%22+OR+%22wellbeing+bill%22+OR+%22schools+bill%22
Statistics/Reports/Publications
Breakfast club early adopters: interim evaluation: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-club-early-adopters-interim-evaluation
Young people and work: interim report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/young-people-and-work-interim-report
Data asset management policy in government: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-asset-management-policy-in-government
School suspensions and permanent exclusions: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions
Consultations/Inquiries/Petitions
Children’s Commissioner: The Big Future Survey: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/the-big-future/
Additional Links: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/TheBigFuture/
Informing the mental health strategy for England: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/informing-the-mental-health-strategy-for-england
Post-16 L2 and L3 qualifications: 2027 proposed subject content: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/post-16-l2-and-l3-qualifications-2027-proposed-subject-content
Regulating post-16 vocational and technical qualifications at levels 2 and 3: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/regulating-post-16-vocational-and-technical-qualifications-at-levels-2-and-3
Assistive software funded through Disabled Students’ Allowance: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/assistive-software-funded-through-disabled-students-allowance
16 to 19 level 1 English and maths qualifications: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/16-to-19-level-1-english-and-maths-qualifications
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